On Monday, the North Atlantic Council announced that it is to begin flying airborne early warning flights in response to the situation in Ukraine, where pro-Russian forces are largely in control of Crimea.
NATO will fly Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS (airborne early warning and control) aircraft in the airspace of member states Poland and Romania, which both border Ukraine. The flights are intended to “enhance the alliance’s situational awareness” of events in Ukraine.
The flights will be undertaken by aircraft of the multinational NAEWF (the NATO airborne early warning force) E-3A component flying from Geilenkirchen in Germany, and the associated Royal Air Force E-3D Sentry component based at RAF Waddington in the UK. Between them they will fly a daily line tasking over Romania, and a tasking over Poland every other day.
For the complete story by David Donald of AINonline, click here.
